Life of a Torchwood Child
by TheyDidn'tHaveMyName
Summary: Tanwen Harkness-Jones is a perfectly normal teenager. Apart from the huge secret she's keeping from everyone... including her best friend. How long can she keep her life at Torchwood secret? Part of my AU series about Jack and Ianto's family.
1. Tanwen HarknessJones

Disclaimer: I don't own anything... well I sort of own Tanwen, Roan, Dayton and Ioan. Nobody else though... which is a shame.

Pairing: Janto obviously

A/N: Part of my AU with Jack and Ianto's family, other parts include 'I Wasn't Expecting That' and 'Photographs and Memories' but they are not essential reading material for understanding this. I promise it will get a bit more Torchwoody later.

* * *

"Tanwen Jones"

The first thing she realised was a sharp pain in her arm. Then she realised that the sharp pain was in fact Ioan elbowing her. She wondered for a second why he was doing this… and then she realised Mr Burton was staring at her, hands welded to his hips.

"I'm very sorry Miss Jones, was my lesson interrupting your nap?"

Tanwen sighed quietly. She was in Maths, which was bad enough, but to make matters worse Mr Burton still couldn't remember her name properly.

"It's Tanwen HARKNESS-Jones, sir," she said, emphasising the Harkness part.

"Well Miss Harkness-Jones, you can write up the solution to 3a, can't you… or were you perhaps too busy sleeping? Hmmm?"

Sighing again Tanwen stood up from her seat and plucked the pen from her teacher's hand. She had absolutely no idea what question 3a even was, because she had been sleeping for most of the lesson, but that didn't worry her. She could do maths. Dad often said she must have gotten that skill from Tad.

After quickly glancing at a nearby book she copied the problem out on the board, paused for a second in thought and then scrawled her solution across the whiteboard in vivid red streaks. She then turned back to Mr Burton and grinned at the look of surprise on his face.

TWTWTWTWTW

"You fell asleep Tan, you've been doing it a lot recently," murmured Ioan beside her as they sat on the wall outside of the main school building, "You sure you're all right? Have you not been sleeping?" Tanwen smiled for a second.

__

"Dad, I've got the Weevil, took a while, it had run up onto the shopping centre roof. Me and Tad had a hell of a time trying to catch it"

"Guess what Jack, she's just like you. Loves roofs!"

"Well both of you hurry back to the hub, it's nearly one in the morning. I've all ready got Gwen working on a cover-up story"

"Yeah… trouble sleeping" she said.

"It's cos of these exams isn't it. They're bloody stressful. You should have a day out. We could go to the pictures or something…" he coughed quickly, "As mates, you know…" but she wasn't listening. He elbowed her again, "Tan?"

Tanwen looked at her best friend. Ioan was quite tall. Blonde hair, brown eyes, rather geeky… especially with his heavy black rimmed glasses. He was smiling at her weakly, his eyes full of concern for his friend.

"What's wrong Tan?"

"Just stuff, you know…"

He sighed, "You want to come to the cinema then tonight?"

"Mmmmm, not tonight. I've got something to do"

"Tomorrow?"

"Busy"

"When are you not busy Tan? What do you do all the time anyway?"

She gazed at him and wanted to tell him. She wanted to confide in him about Torchwood, about aliens and her life. But she couldn't. Not without retconning him and Dad going mental at her.

"Just stuff, with my parents"

"Ahh yes, the mysterious parents. You know I've never met your Dad. Or your Tad for that matter"

"Yeah you have"

"When?" He smiled at her waiting for her response.

"Erm… that time they came to pick me up during school. You met Dad then"

"No I didn't, as far as I remember I nearly got run over by a bloody big black SUV and then a guy rolled down the window, yelled at me to watch where I was going, then told you to get in the back. I thought you were getting kidnapped until you told me it was your Dad the next day," she laughed and he scowled, "It's not funny, I looked like a right idiot after I had to explain that you hadn't been kidnapped by a loud American guy to the police"

"You'll meet them some day, promise," even though she knew he never would, "I'm starved, come down to the shop with me to get some food"

Ioan sighed, "One of these days I'm gonna get bored of following you around everywhere"

She turned to him and grinned, "No you won't"

As the two friends walked through the school grounds they cut their way easily through the crowds of kids. Tanwen was seen as being… odd. With her short, jagged hair cut which had green and white streaking through her dark hair, black jeans and brown leather jacket she was thought of as a very dark person. The only colour she seemed to wear were her converse trainers which today were luminous orange.

Everyone else also knew about her parents. Or at least, she thought to herself, they knew a tiny amount about her parents. That they were both men. And that was mostly where the problems started.

"Oi!"

She ignored whoever it was for a second. She just kept walking, making sure to grab Ioan's hand so that he'd keep walking too.

"You ignoring me?"

She glanced back and vaguely recognised a guy from the year above her. Gavin or Gethan or something like that. Either way, she knew he was trouble.

"You are ignoring me, aren't you. I don't like being ignored"

He'd caught up with them now and had dashed in front of them so that he blocked their way forward.

"Look leave us alone mate-" began Ioan, but he was cut off by the guy.

"Hey, you goin out with her?" he asked, jabbing his thumb in Tanwen's direction. When Ioan didn't answer he shrugged, "Then stay out of it. She's fair game"

"'Scuse me!" yelled Tanwen loudly. Both turned to face her, she had her arms folded across her chest, "When did I become a 'She'? Huh?" she took a few steps towards Gavin or Gethan or whoever he was, "My name's Tanwen," she stepped even closer, until their noses almost touched. Behind them Ioan shuffled uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Tanwen, and if you can't remember that," her mouth was mere millimetres from his as she lowered her voice to a whisper, "Then we aren't going to have a very good relationship" She kissed him on the cheek before drawing back, "Then again… you're not really my type. C'mon Ioan"

As they walked away the guy seemed to remember who he was, and slowly realised that he'd been rejected. He raced after the two figures, angry at what had just happened, "Figures!" he yelled as he caught up with them, "They all said I was nuts trying to go after you. Said you probably didn't understand proper dating, not with the sort of parents you have," he spat the last part of his sentence.

Ioan sighed as he noticed Tanwen had stopped walking, she had turned towards the guy.

"Sorry, must have misheard you there, because you can't have just said what I thought you just said" she said, her voice eerily calm.

"Well, I did. Everyone knows you've got two dads, and that's just sick"

She sighed, "Oh dear, you're that sort of person. Well…" she looked him up and down before smirking, "…Mate. You just made one hell of a mistake"

Before he could even react Tanwen swung her left fist towards the guy's face, it connected with his nose with a dull crunch. She smiled as he swore loudly. She and Ioan began to walk through the grounds again, Ioan slightly startled by what had just happened.

"Tanwen Harkness-Jones!" boomed Mr Burton from behind her.

"Typical," she muttered to Ioan, "Now he remembers my name"

* * *

A/N: remember how nice reviews are?


	2. Family Madness

Chapter 2

A/N: This is for Abs, who puts up with me asking her about ideas, because she wanted a bit of family madness. Also I only just realised, we've written over 3,000 Torchwood fics, how brilliant is that?

* * *

"Can't you just say the whole Torchwood thing so they drop it?" asked Gwen later.

"We could, yeah, but then the whole school will know about Torchwood, and that won't be good, or safe, for that matter" reasoned Jack.

"Plus we want her to have a normal life," Ianto paused, "Or as normal as life's going to get for her"

"I suppose. I can't believe she'd knock a guy out though"

"Well, she is trained to do stuff like that, the idea is she does it to evil invading aliens, not idiots from school," Jack glanced up to his office where he could see Tanwen sitting in his chair, arms folded across her chest and feet on his desk in a pose so obviously inherited from Jack.

"We still don't know why she did it," muttered Ianto, "She wont tell us"

Jack sighed, "Give me an alien any day. Daughters are when it gets tough"

Ianto looked to Gwen, "We have to go and meet her teacher. Discuss a course of action to take-"

"Boring rubbish"

"Jack," groaned Ianto. "Go and get ready, we've to be there in," he glanced at his watch, "22 minutes"

Jack sighed dramatically before stomping off to get changed.

Tanwen chose this moment to emerge from the office and hugged Ianto. He smiled and patted her back.

"Where's Dad?"

"In the bathroom"

"Sorry Tad, about today, he just… that guy I mean, he was…" she sighed, "You know"

He glanced at Gwen who shrugged and wandered off.

"And the teacher's gonna complain about me falling asleep in class too"

"You fell asleep! This is because of that Weevil last night isn't it? What did you tell him?"

"That I was having trouble sleeping, I told Ioan that too"

Ianto hugged her tighter when he saw the look of hurt on her face.

"I want to tell him Tad, he's my best friend, and he can never know what I do every night"

"I know…"

"How do I look?"

They both turned towards Jack. Ianto sighed, "Your shirt's unbuttoned and you only have one sock on"

The Captain smiled, "Yeah, but I can pull this off"

"No you can't. Come here. Why can't you ever look neat and presentable Jack?"

"I've been around for thousands of years Ianto. Can you blame for getting bored of putting on clothes?"

"Well, it's a good thing that you don't get bored of taking them off"

"Tad!" yelped Tanwen.

"What?"

"THAT's not helping me feel better!"

"Sorry"

Dayton walked round the corner at this point and handed a folder to Jack, "Dad Martha says that she can't do anything about it. UNIT policy states that… you've only got one sock on"

Tanwen collapsed into giggles behind them.

"I know I've only got one sock on love" replied Jack.

His youngest daughter quirked an eyebrow, "O…kay. Why have you only got one sock on?"

"I'm trying out a new fashion"

"It's not working"

Jack didn't have a reply to that.

"Tad, we need more coffee beans!" yelled Roan from somewhere.

Ianto strolled in the general direction of his voice before yelling back, "But I got fresh ones a yesterday"

Roan appeared next to him, "I know, but me and Gwen wanted to know what would happen to a Weevil if we gave it some coffee. Turns out not much, even if you give it loads…" he paused, "Dad do you know you're only wea-"

"Wearing one sock, I know"

"Oh, OK. Erm, stupid question but, why?"

"It doesn't matter, Jack go and put on another sock, you're scaring the kids"

Jack stomped off muttering loudly, "Weevils, Sycorax, Hoix and Daleks, no problem. Missing sock and the world comes to an end!"

TWTWTWTWTW

Gwen was on the night shift. Even though she'd rather be cuddled up next to Rhys at the minute, she didn't really mind. The hub was quieter at night. No kids around.

She smiled warmly. Dayton, Roan and Tanwen. She'd watched them grow up, and helped raise them. They felt as much her kids as they were Jack and Ianto's. And now she was worried too. She was worried about how Tanwen was coping with being a child of Torchwood. Tanwen had experienced 18 years of Torchwood life... perhaps she was nearing a breaking point?

The sirens went off as the cog door rolled open and Jack and Ianto wandered in, Jack's arm wrapped firmly around Ianto's waist.

"Anything happen while we were gone?" asked Jack.

"No, dead quiet," sighed Gwen, "How was the teacher"

"I had to retcon him," moaned Ianto.

"What! Why'd you have to do that?" asked Gwen in her Welsh lilt.

"Jack the genius not only told him that he had personally gotten his greatcoat during the Second World War but also that we were both Tanwen's biological parents"

"Why'd you do that Jack?"

Jack frowned heavily, "The greatcoat thing was a genuine accident, but then the guy suggested that perhaps Tanwen's 'issues' were because she was adopted-"

"But she's not adopted," said Gwen.

"That's what I said"

"Which, of course," explained Ianto, "Confused the teacher and then Jack explained. In great detail"

"Oh"

Ianto sighed, "Hence the retcon"

* * *

A/N: I had a slight bit of trouble getting this chapter to work the way I wanted it too, but I think it turned out all right. Of course reviews would be lovely, just to tell me what you all think. (And for the warm-fuzzies)


	3. Doubts and Arguments

Chapter 3

During break Tanwen's phone bleeped. A quick glance at the message made her grin and she felt the familiar bubble of excitement as she read the words 'TORCHWOOD, MEET AT HUB' but when she glanced at Ioan, she realised she'd have to leave him without telling him what was really going on. Again. The bubble of excitement disappeared with a pop of dread.

"I've gotta go"

"Huh?"

"I've gotta go, erm… family emergency"

He looked sceptical, "What, another one?"

"Erm…" she stood up and began to walk away.

"You can't just leave in the middle of school," she wasn't listening, "Tan!" she kept walking. Ioan sighed before grabbing his own bag and running after her.

"Ioan, what are you doing?"

"I'm coming with you"

"You can't"

"Why not? Just tell me what's going on. I hardly ever see you. You never tell me what you do. I've never met any of your family even though you've met all mine, and you keep falling asleep every two minutes. I'm worried about you"

"You don't need to be"

"Yes I do, I'm your best pal, at least I'd like to think I am," he paused, "You really can tell me anything"

She smiled weakly and murmured quietly, "Not this"

"Why not?"

"Because I just can't. Not just now" _Not ever, _but she didn't say that.

He groaned "Well, when you can tell someone, will you tell me?"

She nodded.

"I'm still coming with you"

"Is there any point in me telling you not to?"

"No, where are you going anyway"

"Millennium Centre, Dad's gonna pick me up there"

"I don't want run over this time"

TWTWTWTWTW

Jack watched the image of Roald Dahl Plass on the monitor carefully. Tanwen was talking with a tall blonde boy, who he vaguely recognised but couldn't remember where from. Their discussion was getting more animated as Tan waved her arms about in various directions. He didn't need to be her dad to tell she was getting angry.

The first indication he received that someone else was even in the room with him was when he felt the warm familiar arms of Ianto wrap around his waist.

"What's on?" he asked quietly.

"Tan's trying to get rid of this guy," he turned slightly so he could see into the other man's eyes, "I recognise the kid"

"That's Ioan, Tan's best friend. You almost ran him over once"

"Her best friend? Why don't I know him?"

Ianto sighed, "Because you're always too busy saving the world. You need to start paying more attention Jack"

Jack frowned, "I do pay attention…" Ianto quirked an eyebrow, "Well, maybe not as much as I could. Am I a terrible Dad?"

Ianto hugged him tighter, "Jack, we have three amazing children. No, you're not terrible. Occasionally useless perhaps, but not terrible"

"Its just so dangerous, I'm constantly terrified that a Weevil might get her... or something worse"

Ianto raised an eyebrow, "Terrified? The mighty Captain?"

"When you love someone it makes you vulnerable-"

"Really? Jack she's been around Torchwood all her life. We've only just started to let her go on field-missions. She's almost eighteen. She's growing up"

"I know, but she still my baby girl"

"She's mine too. But we have to let her grow up"

"But do you not think they're growing up too quickly? The twins are barely teenagers yet Dayton is in constant contact with UNIT and Roan's learning how to perform autopsies"

"They are growing up quickly, but they're in an environment where they have to"

"Yeah..." murmerred Jack softly before turning back to the monitor. The two figures had been backing towards the perception filter steadily, the conversation quickly turning into an argument. Ioan looked out towards the bay for a moment and Tanwen seized her chance by stepping onto the lift.

By the time Ioan looked back, she seemed to be gone.

The two men watched as he looked around frantically attracting strange looks from passers-by. Eventually he seemed to give up and began to walk away. He couldn't see Tanwen watching him from the safety of the lift wiping tears away from her eyes..

"She really likes him," said Ianto quietly.

The lift began to descend slowly and Tanwen vanished from shot.

"This is killing me Yan," muttered Jack after a few minutes, "Our daughter can't have a normal life"

"She wouldn't change that-"

"We don't know that! Perhaps she'd be better off…" he sighed heavily, "Never mind"

Ianto let go and walked out of the office. He paused just before he reached the door.

"If she wanted a different life Jack she'd tell us"

TWTWTWTWTW

"Tanwen Harkness-Jones you come back here right now!"

Gwen, Dayton and Ianto stopped debating the pros and cons of getting a jet for the long-distance missions to look up towards the office at the roar of Jack's American accent. They watched as Tanwen stomped moodily out of the office and into the Hot-house before slamming the door making various plants shake.

Gwen raised her eyebrows, "Wonder what's happened now?"

Ianto quickly rushed after her and began to bang on the door of the Hot-house. Jack joined him.

"You tried to talk to her didn't you?" questioned Ianto.

Jack faltered for a second then regained his trademark confidence. "Yeah, I needed to find out if she really wanted this-"

"HE SAID HE COULD RETCON ME!" yelled Tanwen, her voice muffled slightly by the glass.

"You what?" asked Ianto, astounded.

"Well, it was just a suggestion. I just want her to be happy"

The door was flung open. "I am happy Dad! I like it here! I don't want to leave"

"Your not leaving love," soothed Ianto, "We don't want you to leave. Never have and never will"

"We just want you to be happy," continued Jack, "And I wondered if you'd be happier if you had a more normal life?"

"Who wants normal? I eat, I sleep. Go to school, get a job, work, sleep and eat… why would I want that when I can have this?" she sighed and unclipped her earpiece before walking away from them both.

"Tan? What are you doing?" asked Roan.

"Something I should have done a long time ago"

As she walked out of the Hub and stuffed her earpiece into her bag she knew she had to get away from the Hub. Just for a little while to digest everything her Dad had said to her in the office.

The more she thought about it the more she had to reluctantly admit he was right. She couldn't just focus on Torchwood. There needed to be something else in her life.

She walked quickly to a quiet street that was blissfully familiar, despite her not visiting it for a while. She knocked an a plain wooden door and grinned when Ioan answered it. His eyes widened slightly when he realised that Tanwen had actually come to his house of her own free will for once. He ran a hand through his hair casually, "Hi Tan"

"Mind if I come in?"


	4. Enter the Wolfman

Chapter 4

A/N: Starting to struggle with this, so it may be a slightly longer wait than normal for the next few chapters... sorry. Note to self: don't post the start of a fic in the hope that it'll keep you writing.

Oh, just wondering, but when did Ianto start being known as a coffee god? I don't have the series 1 DVDs so I can't really check. Just wanting to know if it was ever pointed out in the actual series or if we all just assumed he made fantastic coffee. If anyone can help that'd be great.

Right, well back to the fic.

* * *

"Wouldn't it be brilliant if there really was life out there?"

Tanwen grinned as she turned her head to look at Ioan. They had somehow ended up lying on the grass in the park behind Ioan's back garden gazing up at the stars.

"Shame there isn't though," he sighed.

"What about all those times things have that hovered in the sky above London, and even here?"

"Mam and Da say it's all PR stunts and stuff… I dunno, something in the water. That sort of thing"

"And you believe that?"

"Well…" and he became strangely silent.

"What would you do if an alien came up to you?" asked Tanwen.

"I'd say, hello Mr Alien, how are you today? That's good to hear, and how is Mrs Alien?"

She gave him a light punch on the arm, "No, seriously?"

"I am serious! Well… maybe not. I dunno what I'd do really. Hopefully not scream and run away," he propped himself up on his elbow, "What would you do?"

_The same thing I do every time I meet a new alien._

"I dunno either"

"This is nice, just hanging out with you for once. No running off, no secrets"

"Yeah, I've liked it" she lay back down on the ground and continued stargazing, trying to push all thoughts from her mind of a small blue box hurtling about up there somewhere.

"Tan," asked Ioan, his voice raising slightly, "Is there some kind of fancy dress party on tonight?"

"I dunno, you can't expect me to know everything that's going on in Cardiff. Why?"

"Oh just cos there's someone in a costume over there"

She frowned and began to whisper, "What like?"

"Loo-"

"Shhh!"

"But you-"

"Whipser"

"Oh, looks like a big wolf or something, big furry thing with a tail creeping about"

There was a sudden rustling behind them. They both turned towards the noise.

"What's happening Tan?" asked Ioan quietly.

"I don't know, hand me my bag"

"Why-"

"Just gimme it"

He passed it to her and she immediately started rummaging in it. He watched as she slipped a earpiece onto her ear and then pulled a dark shape from her bag and put it inside the back pocket of her jeans. She then tapped the ear-piece.

"Dad, Tad, Gwen… anyone?" she was whispering and Ioan was struggling to hear what she was saying, all the time the rustling got closer. He glanced in the direction he had first seen the furry thing, but it was gone. He whimpered quietly, hoping she didn't hear him.

"Tan, what's wrong," her Tad's voice hissed across the comms.

"There's at least one life form heading towards me and Ioan, possibly more"

"Hostile?"

"Don't know, just get Dad here, the park out the back of Ioan's house, grid reference G47"

"We're coming love"

"Tan what do you mean life form"

"Erm… I can't explain now, but we have to run. On three we run back towards your house, then we bolt any door we go through, got it?"

"Erm…"

"Ioan, I need you to focus. Don't be scared just run"

He gulped, "Right"

"Ok then, one," but just then a huge figure rose up from the shadows in front of them, "THREE!"

And they both ran. Tanwen was ahead of Ioan but yelled back, "That didn't look like a wolf thing"

"It wasn't, that was a different thing!"

Something behind them roared, followed by a loud screeching wail.

"Shit," she tapped her comms device, "Tad make that two, different species"

"The SUV's nearly there-"

"TANWEN!"

She turned when she heard Ioan yell. He was held in the grasp of a towering dark figure. He had been right, it looked like a giant wolf, standing upright. It rushed towards her and made to grab her. Tanwen reached behind her and pulled the gun out of her back pocket levelling it at the creature.

"Oh my god Tan, why've you got a gun?"

"Ioan, why has a giant wolf thing got you, get a little perspective"

The wolf thing growled.

"Look you let go of my friend, or I swear I'll shoot"

It growled again frantically and with its free paw it reached down. Tanwen noticed it was wearing what looked like a pair of jeans with a thick belt around its waist. It plucked a tube shaped device from the belt and pointed it at Ioan.

"Argh! Tan, it's got a gun too!" A blue light on the device blinked, "Get it off me, get it off me!" yelped Ioan.

"Shit," muttered Tanwen. And she pulled the trigger.

Ioan and the wolf thing screamed. It dropped Ioan as it tumbled to the ground.

Tanwen marched towards it as it reached over and picked the tube from the ground.

"Don't you dare!" and she aimed the gun at it again.

It pointed the tube at its own throat before clicking a button. Tanwen closed her eyes expecting to hear the shattering boom of a bullet being fired. Instead she heard Ioan's voice, "Get it off me, get it off me!"

She opened her eyes. The wolf thing was sitting upright clasping its right shoulder in a massive paw-like hand. Even sitting down it reached her full height so she was looking into its deep and serious eyes, "Ow, what did you do that for?" it growled, its voice rough and deep.

"You can talk?"

"Of course I can talk, I just didn't talk your language. I try to learn it and you shoot me!" It stood up and towered above her again before pointing towards Ioan. "And you shot your friend"

She gasped and rushed over to Ioan. He was curled on the ground holding his arm. When Tanwen lifted it up to check how badly he was hurt he winced, "Oh shut up, it only grazed you"

His mouth gaped, "Only grazed me! You bloody well shot me! Why the hell did you do that? And where the hell did you get a gun from anyway?" and then he seemed to notice the creature behind her, "And what the hell is that?"

"Scuse me! I have a name!"

"It talks?"

"Of course I talk-"

"Never mind, come on Ioan, get up," said Tanwen.

" Oh no, you might shoot me again"

"I didn't shoot you"

"You did! Have you never seen movies? Don't shoot the guy being held hostage, he always gets killed"

"I wasn't holding you hostage"

"You weren't killed"

"I could have been"

"Oh relax, I've had firearms training since I was 13 and I accidentally killed Dad"

"What?"

"Oops"

TWTWTWTWTW

After a quick moment of Tanwen not looking at Ioan, and Ioan staring at Tanwen in disbelief the wolf thing seemed to get a bit bored and picked them both up, one in each paw.

"Oi! Put me down"

"I can't, we need to get away from here"

"But my Dad will be along in a few seconds"

"You said you killed your Dad"

"Exactly," yelled Ioan.

"No, he… it's complicated"

"More complicated than giant wolf things?"

"Yes actually!"

She couldn't quite see Ioan because the giant wolf thing was in the way, but she knew he had his arms folded crossly and a heavy frown on his face.

"Will you two shut up!" growled the wolf thing, "First of all I am not a giant wolf thing. Well, I am, but please don't call me a giant wolf thing," he began to walk through the park, giant strides crossing the ground in seconds.

"What are you then?" asked Tanwen, "What's your name?"

"Archie"

"Archie?" Ioan laughed.

Archie growled, "Yes, Archie, you got a problem with that?" Ioan stopped laughing.

"OK Archie, why do we need to get out of here," asked Tanwen.

"That shape that was chasing you-"

"You?" asked Ioan.

"No, not me! The first thing! I got rid of it but there will be another coming, alerted by its death. We have to leave."

Tanwen gasped as she recognised a strap around Archie's wrist. "That's a vortex manipulator! Are you a Time Agent?"

"A what?" asked Ioan.

"No. Just because I have a manipulator doesn't mean I'm a Time Agent. Other organisations have them too"

"So you're from an organisation?"

"Yeah, I'm sort of police"

"Space police? Like the Judoon?"

"The what?" yelped Ioan.

"Erm, no, we're much nicer"

"Well that's not exactly hard, dirty great space rhinos!"

Tanwen and Archie shared a grimace at the memory of the Judoon, while Ioan made a frustrated sort of noise which sounded a bit like "Neep!"

Just then the SUV pulled up in front of them. Jack got out of the driver's seat, greatcoat flapping behind him. He pointed his Webly towards Archie.

"What is it with humans and guns?" wondered Archie quietly.

"Put my daughter down!"

"You're late Dad!"

Jack frowned, "What?"

"We could have been killed!"

"Shut up Ioan, Archie can you put us down?"

"But they'll come back-"

"Put me down please" Archie placed her on the ground, "Thank you. Now Dad, this is Ioan McMahon and Archie, erm…" she looked at Archie.

"Just Archie" he said gruffly

Jack nodded slowly, "Giant wolf thing, OK"

Archie sighed, "No not giant wolf thing"

"Well then what? Lupine wavelength haemovariform?"

"I'm sorry, what?" yelped Ioan, although again nobody seemed to hear him.

Archie smiled, or at least his muzzle didn't look quite as scary as normal, "No, but members of that species also inhabit my planet"

Annoyed at being constantly ignored Ioan grabbed Tanwen, "Now I know I must seem annoying whiny and stupid, but you must realise that I've just been shot and there's a giant wolf thing," Archie growled, "Sorry," he added quickly, "But did he just suggest that he was from a different planet?"

"Yes," said Tanwen.

"Oh good, so at least I'm not hearing things"

"I am one of the Wolvenrath. My people are the sworn protectors of our star system. I was transporting two Noctolabon prisoners to a prison system when we crashed"

"Noctolabon?" asked Jack.

"Sort of ghostly shadowy thing," Archie wiggled his paws spookily in an attempt to represent the creatures, but failed as he just looked a bit silly, "They survive on fear energy. They don't kill as such, but they drain the life of the victim, leaving them hollow. I killed the one which was going to attack the children," Tanwen and Ioan huffed loudly, "But the other will be here shortly"

"Right, everyone to the Hub," ordered Jack.

"Can someone please explain what's going on?" yelled Ioan loudly, and was quickly shushed by the others.

"Get in the SUV first, we'll explain when we get back to the Hub"

"Archie," called Jack as he began to climb into the driver seat, "Just follow behind us. Tanwen I want a note of how many people we pass, we'll need to retcon a few people"

"No bother," she turned to Ioan and opened the door of the SUV, "Get in then"

"How can you be taking all this so well?"

She smiled, "Because I'm Torchwood"

* * *

A/N: remeber that reviews give warm-fuzzies (and that support to keep me going with the fic)


	5. Into the Hub

A/N: First of all thanxs so much to everyone who has been reviewing, major warm-fuzzies to you all. Unfortunately I am in the rather strange position where I actually want to be attacked by a plot bunny as the inspiration for the next chapter is not coming as quickly as I want it to, which is ultra annoying as I know exactly where I want the story to go. Humph!

Anyway, enough ramblings!

* * *

Chapter 5

"You have James Bond's car"

"Actually ours is much better than James Bond's" replied Jack.

Ioan couldn't stop staring at the interior of the SUV. He didn't even seem to notice that they were racing along the road and Jack was watching him rather than the road.

"Move over a bit please," said Tanwen as her computer monitor folded out in front of her.

"Oh now that's cool. How did you get such a brilliant car?"

"Told you. We're Torchwood"

"What's Torchwood?"

Tanwen grinned and Jack watched her in the rear-view mirror, "Outside the government and beyond the police. Fighting for the future of the human race!"

Ioan looked at her blankly, "Do you have any idea how silly that sounds?"

She smiled, "I always thought it was cool"

"Right, so let me get this straight. You're Tan's Dad"

"Yup" replied Jack.

"And you fight aliens"

"Yup"

"In Cardiff?"

"Why does nobody think Cardiff is an alien hotspot?"

"Cardiff is built on top of a rift in time and space, stuff comes through the rift and we look after it, send it home, or if it poses a threat… fight it," explained Tanwen.

"And Archie isn't a threat?"

"No"

"And he's an alien"

"Yes"

"I've met an alien?"

"Yes"

"Right…," he looked at Jack, "How are you not dead?"

"What?"

"Tan said she shot and killed you when she was 13"

"Oh that," he turned in the driver's seat to face him, "I can't die Ioan"

Ioan smirked, "Yeah right"

"No seriously, I can't"

"I can believe aliens, secret organisations, but immortality is impossible Mr Harkness-Jones"

"Captain Harkness-Jones actually, but call me Jack, Harkness-Jones sounds way too old," he deliberately ignored Tanwen's muttered remark about how he was old, "And I can't die," he stopped the car, "Shoot me Tan"

"I am not shooting you Dad, Tad will go mad at the blood in the SUV-"

"I'll get out then"

"I am not shooting you, it's weird and stupid and a waste of time"

"Come on Tan"

She groaned and turned to Ioan, "Give me an alien any day. Parents are when it gets tough. Just take his word for it. He can't die"

Three loud bangs erupted from above them and Jack stuck his head out the window, "Please don't bang the SUV Archie. Ianto will kill me"

"But why have we stopped"

"Because my daughter wont shoot me"

Archie shook his head, "You lot are crazy"

TWTWTWTWTW

"Wow!"

Wow was all Ioan had been saying for the past five minutes as he stared at the hub around him.

"I've been up there a million times, and this was always beneath my feet? That's incredible!"

"I'll give you the tour later," said Tanwen, "This is Torchwood 3"

"What like there's more of these places?"

"Oh yeah, we've now got six centres around the world, small teams in each"

"No wonder you're here all the time. So your family runs this place?"

"Not really. Dad's in charge, Tad does the admin and field missions. I help out almost full-time. The twins help at night, only hub-based work, Tad wont let them near the aliens unless it's an emergency. Gwen is the police-liaison and her husband Rhys helps out too. Martha spends most of her time with UNIT but works here occasionally. Then Dan and Cassie are the tech expert and doctor, but they're at a UNIT conference for the next few days"

"What's UNIT?"

"The uncool army version of us," yelled Roan from across the hub. There was a sudden flash from Roan's desk, "OW! OK, we don't touch that part again," he yelped as he sucked his finger.

Tanwen grinned and ran over to her brother pulling Ioan behind her, "What you doing, I thought Tuesdays were training nights," she turned to Ioan briefly, "Cassie's training Ioan to help her with the autopsies-"

"What like dead things?"

"Yeah, like dead things"

"Apart from that time with the Sylenian… that was an interesting day, bloody thing sat up in the middle of the autopsy and asked for a cup of tea. With the scalpel still sticking in its chest," he smiled at both the memory and Ioan's look of disbelief, "But anyway, how can Cassie teach me anything if she's at the conference? And Tad's banned me from going anywhere near the coffee supplies incase I try and feed any more aliens coffee. So I got bored and started to try and work out how this worked"

"What is it?" asked Ioan.

"Wish I knew. So far all I know is which parts give you the most painful shocks"

Jack appeared behind them, "Tan get ready for a field mission, we need to find the Noctolabon"

"This'll help," called Ianto, "Two people discovered who are unable to talk, and don't seem to respond to any form of contact. Sounds like they've been attacked"

"And Archie can try and track them it with his Vortex Manipulator, and I've calibrated mine to do the same"

"What happens to Ioan?" asked Roan.

Jack frowned as though he had forgotten Ioan was even there.

"He can come with us," said Tanwen quickly.

The frown deepened and Jack glanced at Ianto. The Welshman smiled encouragingly.

"Please Dad"

Jack glanced at his daughter. She looked happy, relieved to be able to let someone else in on her life. He sighed, "Fine. But he stays out of harm's way"

Ianto threw Ioan an ear-piece. Ioan stared at it in disbelief.

"You're not chickening out are you?" asked Tanwen.

"What?" Ioan grinned, "Of course not"

"Great," said Jack, "Ianto, Gwen into the SUV. Dayton I want you tracking us. Roan you do… whatever it is you're doing-"

"Stay away from the coffee machine Roan," said Ianto as he put the greatcoat around Jack. Some rituals never change. "Dayton's making the coffee if you need any"

"Come on then Tan," Jack paused and smiled at the newcomer, "You too Ioan"

* * *

A/N: as I said, it may be a few days extra wait till I can update again. Reviews may give me the extra help to keep going… sorry that's shameless.


	6. First Alien Hunt

A/N: Finally got round to posting this, still not completely happy with it so let me know what you think.

* * *

Chapter 6

"Won't people notice Archie running in front of us?" asked Ioan.

Tanwen shook her head, "Nah. Dad gave him this perception filter thing. It's based around the TARDIS key which helps him blend into the environment and you don't have a clue what I'm on about do you?"

"Not a clue. What's a TARDIS?"

"I'll tell you later. But the filter makes Archie almost invisible. Nobody will have a clue he's even there"

"So where are we going Jack?" asked Gwen.

"Archie's tracked the Noctolabon down to somewhere within the shopping centre-"

"Oh good I need to get a new suit," added Ianto.

Jack smiled, "We just need to find it"

TWTWTWTWTW

The four members of the Torchwood team marched purposefully into the packed shopping centre. Ioan followed close behind feeling more than a little out of his depth. Jack told Archie to wait outside for a moment because the perception filter wouldn't work as well in such a crowded space.

"How will we get all these people out of here?" Ioan asked quietly.

"Leave that to me," called Ianto as he strode towards the security office.

24 seconds later a loud voice boomed over the tannoy.

"We are sorry to inform you that the centre has closed for business tonight. Normal service will hopefully resume tomorrow"

"I'm never going to work out how he deals with people so well," murmured Jack as Ianto weaved through the disappointed shoppers towards the group. Jack gripped his hand tightly when he stood beside them. He then tapped his comms device, "Archie, you can come in now"

They watched as the massive form of Archie ducked to get through the door.

"Jack it is on the fifth floor"

"Right then team we'll get onto the fifth level by two access points. Me, Gwen and Archie will take the stairs. Ianto Tan and Ioan take the lift. Meet in the middle. Am I clear?"

Everyone nodded except Ioan, "I think I'm gonna be sick," he muttered quietly. Tanwen grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He smiled weakly. The smile disappeared when she pulled out her gun again. She checked the ammunition and various catches. Ioan noticed that the other three Torchwood members were doing the same. He gulped, "You sure you know how to use that thing?"

"Of course. Like I said, Dad pulled a few strings and made sure I was fully trained," she grinned, "I've only missed a few times. Well… I say a few" She could have sworn Ioan turned green. "Would you relax a bit?"

"Relax Tan? Relax? A few hours ago I was worrying about studying, my uni application form, exams… normal things. Now I'm chasing an alien with my best friend, who has a gun, and another alien. For all I know I'm about to get killed-"

"You wont. I promise. Look you can stay in the SUV if you want"

He laughed, "No way. Its terrifying, but I don't want to miss this"

"Good then"

"Tan have you been listening to a word I've been saying?" asked Jack.

"Sure Dad. Run about a bit, catch the alien, defend the Earth don't get killed etcetera"

He smiled, "Good. Let's go then," and he walked off towards the stairs.

TWTWTWTWTW

_This lift is way too small._

That was the only thought Ioan was allowing into his head. He knew that if he thought about anything else he'd freak out. And he didn't want to do that… especially not in front of Tanwen.

Or in front of her Tad.

The quiet man in the suit whose eyes were so much older and so much more serious than they should be. He had his arm wrapped around her shoulder protectively and Ioan wondered how he could let himself allow his daughter to be put in danger. He wondered how many times he'd watched his family risk their lives.

"So what do you want to do when you're older Ioan?"

It took Ioan a second to realise he was being spoken to. "Erm, I want to train to be a paramedic Mr Harkn-"

"Ianto"

"Huh?"

"Call me Ianto. A paramedic?"

"Yeah. I want to," he smiled, "I want to help people"

Ianto smiled back approvingly, "Good"

The lift doors opened. Ianto and Tanwen held their guns up in front of them and strode confidently out of the lift. Ioan followed them. And then they started running.

The centre seemed much bigger than normal, it was probably because it was empty rather than the usual seething masses of shoppers. As they raced through the corridors Ioan kept glancing nervously into every area of shadow, every patch of darkness convinced something might leap out and attack him. He suddenly wished that Archie was with their group. He'd feel a lot safer with the towering figure there to protect him.

Suddenly his glasses flew off his head.

"Shit!"

He heard them tinkle onto the ground, they had broken.

"What's wrong?" asked Tanwen.

"My glasses have broken"

"Don't worry. I brought these just incase," she pressed a small box into his hand, "Contact lenses"

"Tan I can't wear contacts. And you don't even know what strength I need-"

"Just put them in Ioan. Or you'll need to go back to the SUV," she pulled a mirror from her bag, "Use this"

He sighed as he struggled with the lenses, "How do you fit so much in that bag?"

"Its bigger on the inside"

He chuckled, then realised the serious tone of her voice, "You're not kidding are you? Wow!"

Suddenly he could see perfectly clearly, "How does that work then?"

"Recovered alien tech, they adjust to light levels, the environment and the wearer's eyes. They're developed from the lenses in the eyes of a Kina Warrior"

"Urgh, these are bits of alien eyes?"

"Don't be silly, their just developed from them"

"Will you two hurry up!" called Ianto from further down the corridor. Tanwen grinned and raced after him.

_She's mad_, thought Ioan as he raced after her. _I'm mad, I'm the one following her. _

They thundered around another corner. Straight into the Noctolabon.

TWTWTWTWTW

Jack was also running. He had become slightly preoccupied with racing Archie around the centre, with Gwen trailing behind them making a more detailed check of everything. He was still on full alert but was enjoying allowing the five-year old inside him have fun with his swishy greatcoat.

Then he heard a scream and his inner child disappeared.

TWTWTWTWTW

She felt frozen, like she was paralysed. Some kind of force keeping her still. She couldn't yell, couldn't move couldn't warn anyone or help them. But she knew exactly what was going on.

The Noctolabon was a large whispy cloud of darkness. It pulsed slowly as though it was breathing. It had no features but she could feel it staring at her. It began to move closer and closer, and as it got nearer she felt more scared.

Suddenly it stopped moving forwards and seemed to shrink into itself. It shrieked loudly and disappeared through the wall of the corridor.

Archie skidded round the far corner with Jack following close behind him. As she felt herself beginning to regain control of her movements, realisation dawned on her.

It was scared of Archie. As long as the Wolvenrath was with them they were safe.

"What happened? Yan, you Ok?" asked Jack.

"It's Archie, it's scared of him," Tanwen pointed to the wall, "When Archie got near it just passed straight through like a ghost"

Ioan took a moment to sit down in shock. He was shaking slightly.

"I've always wondered," said Gwen, "If ghosts can go through walls why don't they fall straight through the floor?"

"Because," panted Ioan, "They are able to pass through the vertical plane, not the horizontal plane"

Jack stared at him.

"What?" asked Ioan with a shrug as he struggled to stand up again, "I read it on Wikipedia"

"Wikipedia isn't exactly a reliable source," said Ianto.

"Oh I don't know, I've used it a few times for information when Jack goes into techno babble mode," called Gwen.

"I've used it too Yan," added Jack.

Ianto sighed heavily before following Tanwen to the door of the shop. Archie grumbled loudly as he had to duck to get through the door.

"And this is where you buy your clothes?" he asked as he gazed across the vast rails of fabric.

"Why? Do you not have clothes shops on your planet?" asked Ioan.

Archie glanced at him and smiled, "Of course we do, much better ones than these primitive stores," before carefully threading through the complex maze of clothes.

"Oh," mumbled Ioan.

TWTWTWTWTW

He wasn't too sure when it had happened, but they were running again. They had been searching through various stores again for the ghosty thing when the thing on Archie's wrist had started bleeping frantically.

"Are you always running this much?" he yelled to Tanwen.

"Ioan this is nothing, you should go somewhere with the Doctor, now that's running!"

"We're getting closer," called Archie looking over his shoulder at them, "It's only about 500 metres aw-"

Archie was cut off by a loud smack as he whacked his head off the top of a dip in the roof. The Wolvenrath collapsed on the ground in front of Jack, who tripped up on him and tumbled onto Archie's chest.

"Damnit!" yelled Jack, "Archie why weren't you watching where you were going?"

Archie didn't say anything.

"He's unconscious Jack"


	7. Fear and Courage

A/N: For research purposes (working on another story where Tanwen is younger) if Dad becomes Daddy, and Mum becomes Mummy… what does Tad become? Does it just stay as Tad or does it become Taddy? If anyone can help that would be brilliant.

Also you will be happy to hear that a plot bunny whacked me over the head with a frying pan today, so I have no more problems with inspiration Yay! The next chapter should be up pretty quickly after this one.

Another also, thanx so much for all the lovely reviews!

* * *

"Oh God" murmured Ioan quietly. He wasn't an idiot. He knew that his chances of surviving the night had been significantly reduced now that Archie was out cold. He had been scared before. Now he was just plain terrified.

"What do we do now?" asked Gwen quietly.

"Ioan, have you done any paramedical training?" asked Ianto.

"Well, yeah a bit… I mean basic first aid and-"

"Good, Ioan you stay with Archie and try and revive him," said Jack.

"But-"

Jack cut Ioan off, "Gwen stay with him, he's a civilian, try and help him. We'll keep searching"

Ioan's mouth dropped as Jack Ianto and Tanwen ran off down the hallway towards a foyer. Before she left Tan gave him a quick thumbs up and grinned.

_How can she be grinning? _he wondered.

"Gwen, I don't know how to do this"

Gwen spoke calmly but firmly, "Ioan Archie is a vaguely humanoid type alien. His anatomy is probably very similar to humans. I'll be as much help as I can but I'm not very good at first aid"

"We'll help too" said a voice in his ear. Ioan jumped in surprise. He had forgotten Dayton and Roan could still contact them. "I'm trying to reach Cassie and Roan's already searching the computer databases for the Wolvenrath"

"Thanks," mumbled Ioan. He looked at Archie. "If we get him into the recovery position… that might… I don't know"

"The recovery position" repeated Gwen, "That might work. Let's try that"

Ioan nodded and joined her as they tried to push Archie over.

TWTWTWTWTW

Tanwen ran alongside her parents. This was what she loved best. The thrill and excitement of the chase. It was dangerous but she wouldn't change it for anything. With her Tad on one side and her Dad on the other with his greatcoat flapping behind him like a superhero's cape she felt as though nothing could stop them.

Then they heard a scream.

They burst into the foyer to see a young girl backing away into a corner terrified of the monstrous shadowy creature edging closer towards her. She hadn't left the building for some reason and now the Noctalobon had found her. Panic replaced the confidence Tanwen had been experiencing a mere moment ago. Jack ran towards her first followed by both Ianto and Tanwen, but they didn't get far.

Before she could do anything Tanwen felt her limbs freezing again. Paralysed by fear the three figures watched in horror as the shadows enveloped the young girl. The ghostly form of the Noctalobon surrounded her and they could hear her muffled scream. The shadows darkened even further and the creature swelled.

TWTWTWTWTW

Jack felt helpless as he watched the girl's energy being stripped from her. He couldn't move, but he had to try. With a roar rising from deep within his stomach he struggled against the forces keeping him still. He felt his fingers flex slightly and knew he could beat this. He could hear his own cry now. He pulled his arm slowly upwards, stretching it further and further when with a sudden crack it jerked forwards.

He collapsed on the floor and struggled to stand up. As he rose to his feet he watched the Noctalobon's ghostly whisps form into a vaguely face-like shape. Jack could just glimpse the girl's still body behind the shadows. The face seemed to glare at Jack with a raw burning hatred before beginning to advance on him.

TWTWTWTWTW

Ianto never normally worried about Jack's safety. Jack almost viewed death as a mere inconvenience and Ianto knew he'd always be back to normal in a few minutes.

But knowing the devastating effect the Noctalobon had on its victims and the terrifying dread of wondering if Jack could recover from an attack only increased Ianto's fear, making it even harder for him to move. He was forced to watch as the shadowy figure approached his partner, creeping closer and closer, and then a more terrifying realisation occurred to him.

If Jack was attacked who would protect Tanwen?

He struggled to break free of whatever was keeping him paralysed, desperate to try and save Jack and his daughter.

TWTWTWTWTW

"Come on Archie," Ioan attempted to shake the wolf's shoulders, but they were too heavy. He had long ago abandoned trying to move him into the recovery position.

Gwen rushed up to him and threw a couple of bottles of water to him.

"That's all I could find. There was a vending machine along there and I took everything I could"

"Thanks"

Ioan unscrewed the bottle cap and tipped the freezing liquid onto Archie. Nothing happened.

"Can you go try and get some more Gwen. There must be a store around here somewhere selling water," she nodded and ran off again. He hesitatingly tapped the comms device in his ear, "Erm… any luck Dayton?"

"No. We're trying everything we can but Wolvenrath isn't represented in any of the databases. Roan's searching through the Archives downstairs. We're just hoping Tad doesn't get too mad. I can't reach Cassie either. Sorry Ioan. You're just gonna have to keep trying"

"Shit"

TWTWTWTWTW

Jack glanced around frantically as he searched for something to stop the Noctalobon. He fired bullets uselessly into the shadowy mass and could hear the dull thunk as they impacted pointlessly on the far wall.

There was a loud cracking noise which made him turn around. Ianto had broken the Noctalobon's hold and had collapsed on the floor. Struggling to watch the creature before him and check on Ianto Jack could barely make out that Ianto was breathing. He wasn't moving but he was probably just unconscious.

For a second the fact that he wasn't worried by his partner being 'just unconscious' struck him as rather funny. And he could have sworn he saw the Noctalobon shudder.

He frowned and then the realisation hit.

"Fear energy you idiot!" he yelled at himself. Ignoring the Noctalobon he ran towards Tanwen. He knew she could tell exactly what was going on. He yelled, "Don't be scared Tan. It thrives on the fear, if we aren't scared it can't hurt us"

He was trying desperately not to let his own fear show in his voice. Not a fear for himself. A fear for her safety.

It wasn't enough.

TWTWTWTWTW

Gwen had managed to find a trolley full of bottled water. Both she and Ioan were now frantically unscrewing the caps and dumping the contents on Archie, just hoping it'd have an effect.

It wasn't.

He wanted to cry. Who knew what was happening to Tanwen just now. And her only real chance of safety was lying unconscious in front of him. And there was nothing he could do.

Absolutely nothing.

In frustration he thumped his fist off Archie's huge furry chest before he was overcome by sobs.

"Ow…"

He looked up at the gruff voice, hoping he didn't imagine it.

"Who hit me?" groaned Archie.

"Haha!" Ioan whooped, "Archie I hit you, sorry, but we need your help. The others"

Archie sat up quickly, "Where are they?"

"They went after the thingy"

Archie groaned again, "Stupid humans!" he struggled to stand up but quickly recovered. He then seemed to notice he was soaking wet and shook himself off like a dog.

Gwen squealed, "Archie!"

"Sorry" he yelled as he ran off down the hallway while checking his wriststrap.

"Don't bump your head!" Ioan yelled back. He stood up from the puddle he had been kneeling in and chased after Archie.

Gwen sighed at the madness then followed.

TWTWTWTWTW

_I can't be scared. I can't be scared._

She repeated the mantra over and over in her head as she watched her Dad rushing towards her, but she saw the Noctalobon getting closer to him. And she couldn't warn him.

She was forced to watch in terror as Jack froze on the spot, a grimace of pain set firmly upon his face.

_If Dad's scared… what chance do I have?_

Jack collapsed on the ground and she could feel tears that couldn't fall begin to form. She felt cold. Her stomach felt terrible and heavy. The feeling only intensified when the creature turned away from her Dad, clearly bored of him and wanting fresh prey.

_Oh God. Is this it?_

And then a bright light assaulted her eyes before the darkness took over.

TWTWTWTWTW

Ioan had caught up with Archie, which he was rather proud of, and they both skidded into the large foyer. Ioan gasped and felt the familiar bubble of fear that had been plaguing him for the whole night rise inside him again.

A girl's body lay still in the distance, Ianto was slumped on the floor, Tanwen was frozen to the spot. But it was Jack that had caught his attention. The ghost thing surrounded him. He could hear Jack screaming in pain and watched as he collapsed onto the floor.

That left only Tanwen.

The monster turned towards her and began to drift closer to her.

Ioan's eyes widened as he realised what would happen if it got to her. He watched as Archie rushed towards them, reaching into one of the many pouches on his belt.

And without even realising what he was doing he was running towards her. For once he wasn't scared. He knew he could save her. All he needed to do was be brave.

He reached out towards her moments before the monster reached her. It had shrunk slightly. _Must be Archie_, he thought, then dismissed it as he grabbed Tanwen around the waist.

A bright white light suddenly erupted from somewhere nearby and he couldn't see. He could only feel an intense jab of pain shoot along his left leg as he dragged her to the ground away from the thing towering above them.

They rolled along the floor a few times before finally stopping. Ioan groaned as he felt Tanwen lying on top of him. He tried to open his eyes but that hurt too much so he closed them again.

"Ioan?" asked Tanwen quietly.

He made a vague mumble, too shocked at his own actions to be able to talk coherently.

"You saved my life"

And suddenly through the pain and the darkness and the white hot pin-pricks of light when he opened his eyes he felt Tanwen press her lips to his. For the first time that night he felt some form of stability as he wrapped his arms around her. Her kiss was warm and passionate and he briefly allowed himself a moment to think that perhaps she liked him too.

But then she pulled away.

"Thanks Ioan"

As he sat up wincing at the pain in his leg he looked around, finally the bright light had faded.

Archie stood with his paws set firmly on his hips growling angrily at the ghost thing which had been trapped inside some sort of light-cage-thing. To the other side Tanwen was gently shaking Ianto who was groggily coming round. He sighed as he realised that his brief moment of bliss had been shattered and turned his attentions instead to the one remaining figure.

Jack lay in the middle. Ioan stumbled over to him grimacing at the pain. Jack looked dead. He placed his fingers against the man's neck. No pulse.

Part of him desperately wanted to believe Tanwen, but most of him still struggled with the concept of Jack being immortal.

Which is why he yelped in horror when Jack suddenly gasped loudly and grabbed his arm.

"Bloody hell!"

Tanwen and Ianto looked over at his yell. They both grinned and Tanwen mouthed 'Told you' to him.

* * *

A/N: Again any help on the Tad issue is very much appreciated, and of course reviews give everyone warm fuzzies!


	8. Retcon

A/N: This is it, the final chapter, or an epilogue if you would prefer.

* * *

Chapter 8

"Are you sure you'll be all right Archie?" asked Jack, "Your ship's safe to fly?"

"Oh yeah," said the Wolvenrath gruffly, "That boy of yours was a wonderful help. Should be a starship mechanic"

Roan grinned at the praise as Jack ruffled his hair, "Can I Dad?"

"Roan there's not going to be any vacancies for starship mechanics on earth for another 36 years," explained Jack.

"Oh… I'll just get the Doc to take then me next time he visits"

Jack rolled his eyes, "Anyway Archie, thanks for the help," he roughly shook Archie's paw. As the Archie shook everyone's hand in turn Jack added, "And if you're ever in Cardiff again… although preferably without the Noctalobon"

"I will make sure and visit you. All of you," Archie added as he reached Ioan. Ioan timidly accepted Archie's paw.

He smiled, "Still get a bit freaked out by this you know"

Archie grinned back, "Ioan you are yet to encounter the wonders of the universe. Believe me a 'Giant Wolf Thing' will not be the oddest thing you'll see"

As Ioan nodded his head Tanwen smiled weakly. _As long as he gets to remember it._

TWTWTWTWTW

"I brought us chips"

Ioan glanced up at Tanwen. She held out the brown paper package to him.

"Chips?"

"Yeah, don't under estimate chips Ioan. Dad and Dayton once stopped an invasion of Vliplurians by offering the leader a single bag of chips"

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Although the fact that Viplurians are about the size of a fly and they were just looking for a way to escape the famine on their planet and one chip could feed them for ages might have had something to do with it," she grinned.

"Oh. What happened to the Viplurians?"

"They're currently pretending to be midges up around Loch Lomond in Scotland. If you're ever up there don't crush one otherwise you may have to fend off a thousand Viplurian warships. They won't kill you or anything but they'll sting. A lot," she sat next to him and offered him the chips again, "Although you could always protect yourself with a bag of chips, but its better, and nicer, not to take the risk"

He was only really half listening to her as the possibilities of the universe raced through his mind. He then got a bit of a headache, so tried to think about something closer to home, or at least Earth. As Tanwen sat next to Ioan on the battered old couch in the hub, her body pressed lightly against his, he tried not to think about the kiss, so he decided she was wearing a very nice jumper.

"That's a very nice jumper"

She glanced at him and raised her eyebrow elegantly, "I have a nice jumper?"

"Well yeah," he shuffled slightly away from her. There was no way she felt the same way as he did. That kiss was just a show of thanks, a sign of her relief at being alive, "It's erm… very nice"

"Right…" she placed the chips on top of some paperwork left on a nearby table.

He flushed, "I mean, it's not just your jumper, I mean, you're very nice, but erm, I mean-"

"Ioan"

He paused, "Yeah?"

She closed the distance between them, "Shut up" and she kissed him.

Ioan was shocked at first, and then he realised that Tanwen was kissing him. And that he'd probably better kiss her back.

When they finally broke apart he smiled, "I wasn't expecting that"

"Neither was I. But the best things in life are often unexpected," she reached up and placed another soft kiss on his lips, "I have to go talk to my Dad, wait here"

TWTWTWTWTW

"Let's get this over with then"

Jack looked up at the sound of his daughter's voice, "What?"

"The retcon. I know how this place works, nobody gets to see it and remember it. So can I do it now, quickly?"

There were slight tears welling up in her eyes and Jack sighed heavily as he reached for the retcon box. He flicked it open carefully and watched as she sighed heavily and bit her lip.

"How much does he know?"

"Pretty much everything. What he hasn't seen I filled him in on, it felt so good to talk to him Dad"

"How long's he been your friend?"

She smiled, "Ages. Ages and ages"

"You really like him don't you?"

She flushed red, "Well… I don't know about… erm…"

"You weren't exactly subtle back there"

The red flush deepened, "Oh! You erm… you didn't see that…" he nodded, "You did…," she sighed, "Perfect!"

"You don't have to do this you know-"

"No Dad, you're not doing it. I want to, well I don't want to, but if it's going to get done-"

"It's not going to get done"

"-I'd rather do it than let you… wait, what?"

"I'm not retconning him"

Her eyes widened, "Really! Why not?"

"Because he likes you, you like him, and you're my daughter. I want you to be happy. Also, he's a smart kid. And brave. Bit of training you never know he might Oomph!"

He couldn't finish his sentence because Tanwen had hugged him hard enough to knock the air from his lungs.

"Thanks Dad"

She raced out of the office nearly knocking Ianto over as he attempted to come in. He quirked an eyebrow and Jack smiled at the familiarity.

"She's happy"

"I'm not retconning him"

Ianto couldn't hide the smile, "Good"

Jack hugged him and kissed him on the forehead as they watched the scene below them.

TWTWTWTWTW

"Can I come in?" asked Tanwen.

Ioan glanced up from the contents of his mug Ianto had given him which had suddenly become very interesting. But not as interesting as the girl standing before him. He smiled and lifted the blanket he had also been given, allowing her to sit beside him. She cuddled close to him and he placed his arm around her shoulder.

As he laced his fingers through the green streaks in her hair the smile turned into a grin, "Never thought I'd be doing this you know"

"What?"

"Well, sitting like this with you for one thing. But the whole alien, secret organisation thing. Never expected that either"

She laughed quietly and he placed a soft kiss on her forehead, "I kinda love this place," he said quietly.

"Good," she yawned.

"It's dead cool, or have I already said that? Plus, you're here. Which is a bonus…" he shook her lightly when she didn't respond, "Tan?"

She moaned quietly and curled closer to him, mumbling sleepily to leave her alone.

He smiled again and let her sleep. He wasn't complaining.

**One year later**

"Damnit, I've lost it!"

"Don't worry Jack, its nearly in our grid refrence"

"Be careful!"

"We'll be all right Dad"

Tanwen watched the screen as the little red circle got closer and closer to their position.

"I see it Tan"

She glanced up to the tall figure edging carefully around the corner of the building, his gun ready to sweep around in front of him for protection. She stood up quickly as she stored the laptop safely away in a backpack. She gave the man's free hand a reassuring squeeze.

"You OK?"

"Course I'm all right. I signed up for this didn't I? And it sure beats a summer job in Starbucks before Uni starts again"

She smiled, "It's almost here"

He leant down and placed a soft kiss on her lips before turning back towards the almost empty street. They both cocked their guns and stepped out in front of the alien.

It snarled and glared at them with deep eyes full of hate.

"Get out of my way pathetic humans!" snarled the Sontaran warrior.

"We can't" called Tanwen.

"Why not? Some ill-conceived act of bravery?"

Ioan laughed softly, "No. It's because we're Torchwood!"

* * *

A/N: Hope you enjoyed that. Thanx to everyone who favourited, put this on alert, reviewed and of course read. If I get my way (and the damn plot bunnies attack me at appropriate moments with appropriate ideas) this will not be the last Children of Torchwood fic I do.

Also, has anyone seen the pics and vids for the filming of the next seriees? All I can say is Wow! Obviously I can't say more as it's a bit spoilery and that's not fair to those who haven't seen them and don't want to… but Wow! I cannot wait for spring next year!


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